Halo: Why We Fight
Introduction Welcome to the Second Great War. It is May of 2617, the second most hectic year of the war which is nearly twice as catastrophic as the First Great War. The following will tell the tale of how more than two thousand warships representing the Humans, Sangheili, Unggoy, and Mgalekgolo launched a blitzkrieg-style assault on Sanghelios, which has been occupied by a massive yet quite underestimated New Covenant force consisting of millions of Jiralhanae, Yanme'e, and Kig-Yar along with nearly 1900 warships, though a number are still not yet fully repaired due to previous engagements and a shrinking pool of Covenant supplies. With new secrets about Sanghelios emerging, this is a story you don't want to miss out on. Welcome to the fight. Dramatis Personae United Nations Space Command Defense Force Marine Corps *Major General James Corbett, CMDR Strike Force 14 *Private Anthony Corbett, Strike Force 14 *Sergeant Tiffany Smith, Strike Force 14 *Private Nayef Mohammed, Strike Force 14 *Private "Smoke" Baldwin, Strike Force 27 *Captain Eddy Ortiz, CMDR Strike Force 28 United Nations Space Command Defense Force Army *Master Sergeant Eric Miles, CMDR Strike Force 52 *Specialist A.J. Godec, Strike Force 52 *Private 1st Class Thea Eudovic, Strike Force 52 *Private Drew Finch, Strike Force 52 United Nations Space Command Defense Force Navy *Vice Admiral Dontell Madison, CO [[UNSC Tajikistan|UNSC Tajikistan]] *Captain Ellen Matthias, CO [[UNSC Poseidon|UNSC Poseidon]] *SPARTAN-379, CMDR Onyx Team *SPARTAN-301, Onyx Team *SPARTAN-295, Onyx Team Sangheili Imperial Army *Field Master Thor 'Vadam, CMDR Strike Force 30 Sangheili Imperial Navy *Ship Master Elto 'Eadinn, CO Oblivious Warmonger Halo: Why We Fight Prologue Location: UNSC Tajikistan; one lightyear away from Sanghelios Time: 10:17 DFT May 22nd, 2617 "Tony, you finally ready?" asked Major General James Corbett. At 6'8" and weighing in at 255 pounds, was in extremely well shape for a man of his age. Anthony, who was James' great nephew, also stood above many at a height three inches lesser of James'. "Shut the hell up, James. Just let me get my gloves," Anthony "Goddammit, boy. You ever heard of being up early," James jokingly remarked despite Anthony awoke at 6:30 DFT. "Yeah, too bad I don't wake up at 2:30 'cause of some augmentation that cuts half my sleeping time. Oh hey, here's my gloves, you ready to grab some coffee?" Anthony joked. James replied with a blank stare before exiting the small room and entering of of the corridors of the [[UNSC Tajikistan|UNSC Tajikistan]], a modified Mountaineer-class Battlecruiser. "Damn, we've been on this cruiser for two years and I still can't get over the upgrades. It's like a battleship, now," James said, trying to keep his mind occupied as they walked the maze of pathways to the normally quiet Mess Hall B. "It sure seems like it. I'd call it a battlecarrier. Did you even know about its hangar upgrade, Jay?" "No, what about it?" "The damned thing can carry its normal load of dropships and eighty-two Talons, and we both saw what those fighters did at Cortiar." "Yeah, those things took out the old Seraphs like a Longsword taking on a Banshee." James then paused as they arrived at the mess hall, "Well, looks like we're here. We got an hour before we go into combat-ready in case the first wave fails." The two went to a small vending machine built into the wall near the entrance to the cafeteria. Anthony pressed a few buttons and the machine produced a sandwich followed by Anthony sliding a metal thermos-like canister into a slot which filled it with a pint of coffee already containing milk and sugar. James only treated himself to a coffee but picked up a small bunch of grapes from a metal bowl near the wall. The two sat together at the corner table furthest from the sailors and naval officers in the room due to the fact that James had time and time again gotten into fights with the crew of various ships. "Well, I hope you're ready. This is gonna be like Earth back in the War." "Huh?" Anthony, who was too young to even be alive during the Human-Covenant War or its aftermath, had no idea what the battles on Earth were like. "Oh right, I forgot you're too young to see those. I tell ya, they were hectic and you had no idea what was going on outside of your area. It's not like a fight on a colony-planet where you kill a rebel or a Brute or even two then you find out where your sister platoon's at. You have to kill ten Brutes, go fifty feet, kill twenty Brutes, go two hundred feet through buildings and clear out a bunch of snipers and Grunts and what not then go into a courtyard and take down an AA battery. You can lose track real fast." "Like New Deut?" "Exactly, or at least the part where you land your SOIEV fifty feet outside the Cov-camp." "Well," Anthony paused and popped the tiny bit of sandwich remaining into his mouth, swallowing quickly, "Let's have some fun." The two attached the metal canisters to magnet-pads on their thighs and left the mess hall to grab their remaining equipment. ---- Location: UNSC Tajikistan; one lightyear away from Sanghelios Time: 11:01 DFT, May 22nd, 2617 After a little less than forty five minutes of everlasting preparations, the Vice Admiral's voice filled the speakers of the Tajikistan: "Attention, attention all ODST's; we are now loading members of Strike Foce 14. Please enter HEV Bay One and Two. Good luck and happy hunting."'' Anthony entered his drop pod while James waited to perform a head count as people entered the bay. Once all fifty-four soldiers were in, he called to make sure all were ready before entering.'' The veteran General called to the Vice Admiral once more, "Sir, we're buckled in here." "Good, should be just a few minutes. The recon wave is getting blown to hell. The Elites got a Whisper and it'll get us there in just twenty-five minutes with the help of its Slipspace rift. Have some fun, out there, General." "Will do, Admiral." James adjusted his radio to the frequency known as SQUADCOM, also called Squad Communications, "If you need to, take a nap." Private Lauren Smith, an ODST new to Corbett's leadership, blurted out, "Damn, General, you think we could take a nap now?" "Eh, do whatever then. Just stay alive." This remark rolled the eyes of half a dozen people in the room, but it didn't matter either way for James, who was always prepared to crack a joke in battle. He was more than ready as his last battle was two years before present with much "thanks" to damage to his left lung and heart. He was literally itching to kill a Covenant soldier, as with most soldiers. After another half hour passed, the ship jerked. They had left Slipspace. They had exited quite closely to the planet's surface and the Tajikistan only had to adjust itself a little to drop its HEV's. "This is Vice Admiral Madison. We are reading all green and you are all go, Strike Force One-Four. Good luck." A number of clanks sounded, sigifying the first pods being released from their magnetic clamps. James dropped and quietly slid down the twenty-one foot tube before he went into open space. The decompression force of the vacuum had brought the pods to speed and would accelerate to terminal velocity within a minute. And, once that minute passed, James' pod rattled as if it were to shred apart. He was then startled a bit by the Admiral's raspy voice, "General, looks like the pods are too far west. There might be a bit of swimming." "With all due respect, Admiral, why the fuck didn't you drop us in the right spot?" "We had two Covenant carriers within 200 klicks, we had to do it ear-" Jameson was cut off and a loud explosion rang over the radio, even so much as hurting James' ear to an extent. "Admiral? Admiral Madison!" James almost angrily yelled. "Sir, we've been hit, hard. Three destroyers, a frigate, a carrier, and an old CCS closing in on our three-ship cluster. I'm gonna need to close the comm. Good" With a beep, the comm link shut down. James felt confident in the heavily modified Tajikistan and cleared his mind of the incident. The still shaking pod of his began to stabilize as it began to enter the lower atmosphere. The metal chute burst open and the drop pod jerked again. This would scare any rookie, though James, thanks to his forty-four drops in his career, was comfortable with all the jerks and shaking of life in Special Operations. Afterward, another jerk was brought by the retro-thrusters of the pod just at a low altitude above the ground. With the passage of a few suspenseful moments, James then realized once again that he might land in the water as with the rest of the force. If this were to occur, there would be a chance that the pod would not open and kill the occupant. Before his thoughts were finished, the HEV smacked on the surface, slightly disorientating the General. After a moment, the door of the pod exploded open and relieved James as he had landed only yards from the shore. Unfortunately, a pod landed in the water, but the occupant, Lauren Smith, was able to swim up since her HEV hit a slab of bedrock only twelve feet below the surface. "All green, medic?" James called out, pulling his helmet off to embrace a breath of fresh air. Green indicated that everyone was still active. The more experienced of the two medics, Petty Officer, "All green, General." "Good, great, on we go." James then paused for a moment, scanning the horizon opposite the shore. "Needless to say, it's showtime boys." ---- An angered Dontell Madison smoothly set himself into his seAt in the bridge of the Tajikistan. He proceeded to reach for the small stand to his left and picked up his mug, which was filled halfway with now luke-warm coffee with a dash of Madrigali rum, though much too little to induce intoxication. He snatched a moderate gulp before setting it down again, disgruntled by its coolness. Dontell then inquired, "Can I get a status report?" "Yellow, Vice Admiral. Riley maneuvered us from the battlegroup and performed a semi-slingshot, but we have less than ten minutes until inevitable contact at this rate," said one of the officers. "Thank you, Lieutenant. Give Riley the command to slingshot us around the planet, but not too fast that we'll shoot out of orbit. And, just in case, put all garrison on high alert and prepare for any borders." "Yes sir" Chapter I Location: Sanghelios LZ 1 Time: 11:31 DFT, May 22nd The group of fifty soldiers began walking towards their designated target, a small Covenant fortification, in the hastening sunset. James, armed with an NH30D-AWS Assault Rifle and an M77 Gauss Rifle, would be sniping with Anthony as his trusted spotter. After a few miles, the group came across four Shadow transports along with seven dead Sangheili. A grin creeped onto James' face, knowing these could cut the time of their 100-klick trip by a large amount. "Corporal Lee, you worked with these before, right?" the General inquired. "Um uh, ye- yes sir," the engineer studdered out. He was a frail, yet ingenius nineteen year-old man which was quite intimidated by most officers to his own dismay. "Corporal, don't worry about anything. Now can you tell me how long it will take before these Shadows are up and running?" "Um, just a few minutes sir. That is, as long as all parts are still there." The Corporal retrieved a welder from his rucksack and removed a section of the first vehicle's thin armor, revealing a part of the engine unit. He fidgeted with it for thirty seconds or so before announcing, "Just one more adjustment, and..." Suddenly, the vehicle burst to life, levitating fifteen inches into the air. Corporal Lee entered the cockpit and examined the controls, flew the craft forward a few feet, then set her down. "Good work, kid. Try and get the next few to work in fifteen minutes, we need to get moving." "Yes, sir." The young soldier hastily repeated his actions on the second Shadow. Luckily for the platoons, three of the sleek violet transports carried seating behind the pilot for ten troopers, and the fourth carried a pair of ghosts thanks to extended suspension bars. The ghosts were already on though their pilots were likely killed before they could escape. Man, if only this guy had been around since the start of the war; life would have been easier, General Corbett thought to himself. He then plopped himself onto a plot of moss and retrieved his drink canister from his thigh magnet. He twisted the cap off the metallic object and snatched the last gulp of coffee. It had cooled down, but the warm climate of the planet had made this inconvenience of little matter. He looked to his left and noticed a stream running west towards the ocean. From his utility belt, James pulled out a small device with a detachable vial, a small LCD screen, and a half a dozen buttons. He removed the vial and filled the glass vial with a sample of the stream. He allowed the device to analyze it, which revealed that it was drinkable. He wiped out his canister with a handkerchief before filling it with a pint of the stream's water. "Sir, you think that water's safe? I wouldn't trust a little device like that with my colon's fate," a man called out from on top of a Shadow. "I've never been told wrong by this thing, and I'm thirsty," James answered with a slight grin on his face. He proceeded to sip the water he had just retrieved. It tasted like water that had been settled in metal pipes, but it was well worth it. Willing to share his finding, James announced, "If anybody's interested, this stream is drinkable. We'll be moving out sh-" He was cut off by a plasma grenade tossed near his feet. He quickly reacted by throwing it back, though it detonated just a few yards from him and knocked him back. He capped his canister and stored it and rolled behind a front wing of the first Shadow and began blind-firing his sidearm, an M9 SMG, at a pair of Jiralhanae which were firing from the roof of the single one-story outpost in the area with new weapon unfamiliar to any of the ODST's. It shot massive spikes, approximately four centimeters in width and thirty-four in length. The weapon fired one round very second and required the second gunner to load a ten round magazine every once in a while. "Duck! That fucker's taking out the armor on the Shadows!" James fired the rest of the rounds in his magazine and replaced it with another. He emptied it too, though he only hit the secondary gunner four times and was now out of ammo. "Gimme some damn cover!" James called out after realizing his other weapons were ten yards away. A female ODST fired an RPG at the building but hid the side, collapsing section. A Jiralhanae deployed a plasma shield to cover their right flank which was revealed by the RPG. The gunner then turned his weapon towards the operator of the weapon and shot the woman in the skull, dropping her to the ground while James dashed for his gear. He dove and grabbed his NH30D and helmet, slapped it on, and lunged for cover, once again attracting fire from the shoulder-fired weapon. It emptied an entire clip on the Shadow wing behind which James was hiding behind. The massive spike-slugs embedded themselves in the internal machinery of the wing of the transport. The final projectile fired exposed itself halfway through the rear of the vehicle's limb and dented the General's left pauldron. He attempted to return fire with his rifle, though he had to duck once they reloaded. On the radio built into James' helmet, a feint voice announced: "This is Warhawk Squadron One-two-one en route to your position, hold tight." All of a sudden, eight gunships appeared above in a rapid descent. The first two launched a volley of missiles, obliterating the outpost. "Damn happy to see you, boys. Our platoons have been under fire from this new super spiker those damn Bravo Foxtrots came up with. They penetrated the damn wing of a Shadow, and it doesn't get crazier than that," replied Corbett via radio. The squadron landed and the pilots departed their craft. The leading pilot exited his Warhawk and approached James, who had once again removed his helmet and attached it to a clip on his belt and opened his drink canister. "So whom do I thank for the help?" "Junior Lieutenant Rafias Michaels, One-twenty-first Warhawk Squadron. We departed our ship ten minutes ago once your force's beacons stopped moving yet indicated all green. The superiors knew it wasn't likely you took a break so early on, so they sent us to investigate. What happened to you, anyways?" the pilot answered. He had a strong Jamaican accent and the appearance to match. He was quite slendy and maintained a small ponytail that fit quite well under the pilot helmet. "Well, we found those Shadows unmanned. Our engineer began to get them up and working and that heavily defended turret popped up out of nowhere and began tearing us to shreds." "How many casualties are there?" "Four dead, zero wounded. We have the three Shadows not destroyed by the turret up and running so we'll be off now. Hope to see you soon, Lieutenant." "I do to, General. We'll be heading to Bravo Base now." "Okay, we're off to our target base." The squadron lifted off and turned en route for the command base. As for the two platoons of ODST's, they boarded the three active Shadows and two Ghosts still operational. They headed off into the horizon, where there would be an unkown opposition to the small company. ---- The Tajikistan loomed in the atmosphere of Sanghelios while it continually deployed its Marines. Within its bridge stood Vice Admiral Dontell Madison, a Chicago native. He huffed his Sweet William Cigar as he scanned a moniter at the front of the bridge. Having satisfied his need for the data, he looked up to an officer and issued a command, "Lieutenant Taylor, has the Poseidon entered the system?" "Yes sir, FLEETCOM shows they are engaged." "If our dropships are loaded, let's go help 'em out." The ship's AI Riley then appeared from a projection stand. "Admiral, we have two birds out, but I'm re-routing them to the Firefight, FFG-704," Riley said. "Good, let's prepare the MAC cannons and boarding crew. Deploy the Talons. Ladies and gentlemen, we're goin' hot," Dontell commanded. "We'll be on full battle ready in seventy seconds, sir," with that last announcement, Riley's hologram disappeared. Dontell formally plopped into his captain's chair and calmly awaited the soon-to-come battle. The battlecruiser lifted out of the atmosphere while carefully avoiding Jiralhanaean ships. From the vessel's starboard side came an explosion that rattled the ship. Vice Admiral Madison demanded, "What the hell was that, Lieutenant?" "Plasma torpedoes. It seems that a Dauntless-class has targeted us and is closing in on our two o'clock." "Do we have speed to Dive Loop?" "Mementarily, sir. I'll put Riley on it." "Great job, Mara." The battlecruiser accelerated towards the enemy cruiser while powering down all unnecessary systems. Without an additional command, the Tajikistan rolled to the left a small amount, even further accelerating. "Activate reserve engines and reactor... now. Power up cannon number one to fire ready level." With that command, the ship began an even quicker ascent towards the Jiralahanae-crewed vessel. Rifley's sprite appeared on the stand. "Beginning climb now, sir, hold on," Riley reported. With this small speech, the vessel turned upward for a moment, then turned downward in an intricate motion. Once confident, Madison called out, "Fire!" The Tajikistan fired its primary Heavy Magnetic Accelerator Cannon at the vessel below and scored a lucky shot on the ship's reactor. The Dauntless exploded into a shockwave of debris in all directions, engulfing a nearby New Covenant frigate. "Sir, we have a direct hit. Casualties include one targeted cruiser and a hostile frigate," Riley said. "There we go, baby!" With that, Dontell plopped a Sweet William cigar into his left cheek and lit it with a Zippo-style lighter." The crew of the ship enjoyed a brief celebration as they travelled towards the Poseidon once again. Chapter II Location: Unknown plains, Sanghelios Time: 12:42 DFT, May 22nd Moments after the Warhawks lifted off, the thankful commander began travelling once again toward their target base, 07-Alpha. Nobody spoke in the strike force as they marched onward. The scouring sun beams seemed to vacuum any words one would be about to say. They looked around and once again took note of the war: dozens of bodies of many species dotting the looming plains and isolated hills. James went to snatch a sip from his canister only to notice that a stray projectile had split it open. "Damn, this is horrible. Why can't they turn down the temperature or something?" Anthony blurted out, shattering the silence outside of occasional helmet beeps and humming of the vehicles. "Get over it. This ain't nothin' and you new boys need to just shut the fuck up," James responded. He was only jokingly being rude, though Anthony didn't realize it and kept to himself. All of a sudden, Private Mohammed pointed into the air, "General! We have Seraphs inbound!" He was right; a trio of bombers soared from the sky, partially concealed by the gleaming orange sunlight. "Scatter!" James commanded. The strike force separated in all directions despite a lack of cover. The Seraphs pulled up at the last moment, though their payload of bombs had been delivered. A dozen explosions burst into the air and flung bodies in all directions. When the dust cleared, only four soldiers remained: James, Anthony who had a smashed femur, Private Mohammed bearing a shattered hand, and Sergeant Tiffany Smith who had also been injured in the form of a torn MCL in the left leg, though it was concealable. "What the hell was that?" The rest knew the question need not be answered. After removing his helmet to examine himself, he noticed that his canister was shattered as was a third of his visor. "Smith, can you get a hold of the nearest ship to drop us some support? There's no way we're leaving with Anthony in the shape he's in." The short, obviously feminine Sergeant was quick to reply. "Yes sir. One moment... I'm putting in for evac from FFS-419... Green light sir. Bird'll be down here in four minutes. I'd say we start collectin' the fallen, sir." Witout any more words, Tiffany and James began carefully and respectfully moving their dead comrades side by side while Mohammed did his best to aid in his agony. The General, noticing his discomfort, glanced at him and the young man backed off from the work. For the youger three of the small party, this sight was quite new to them as they had all been enrolled for less than six years, though James lost count of his masssacred bretheren back in the 2580's during the Second Insurrection. From the sky, a quartet of Avengers sailed down to what was now a grassy gravesite. As the fourth dropped to a grassy knoll, three immense soldiers clad in worn olive armor rolled from the rear hatch. James stole a quick glare at the shortest of the three. "'Bout damn time they bring someone down here to make me look good," he said with a hidden smile. The man he spoke to was his longtime comrade, Travis-379. "You're the only person that I know that stays happy all the time," the SPARTAN retorted. "Let's get the fallen loaded up so they can be returned, a'ight?" Though he had endured years of unbearable discipline, Travis managed to maintain a sense of humor. After a bit more work, the three injured ODST's were haulded off with the deceased while the four combatants rode into the blue via a convenient transport. The Kodkod traversed the gradually more difficult terrain until it soon arrived at the doorstep of a Sangheilian city along with its garrison. "Shit, checkpoint. Why would Elite's think we're Covenant?" James grumpily inquired. "They know all about undercover assaults. Remember the story about Alpha Base on the first Halo?" Travis replied. "Well, yeah, but we have three SPARTAN's. Unless they're too beaten down to have their usual scanners, they're just plain--" the General was intererrupted by an explosion of dust just in front of the vehicle. Once the air cleared, a SOEIV became visible. "Why the hell is that thing here? There shouldn't be any more drops in this sector." Stepping out from the rear hatch of the armed fighting vehicle, James caught sight of the drop pod just in time for the front door to burst off with the sharp noise of releasing hydraulic grips. An ODST stepped out from the pod, armed with a seemingly-archaic though heavily modified light machine gun. "Might I ask your name, soldier?" Realizing he was in the presence of a General because of James' pauldron emblem, the rogue Shock Trooper jumped into a more formal stance. "Private Smoke Baldwin, sir. Strike Force Twenty-Seven." He had what seemed to be an imitation Australian accent despite he was born and raised in the suburbs of Melbourne. A bamboozled James returned, "Twenty-Seven? Your about a hundred kiloes off, son. This is Fourteen. Can you explain this at all? And forget the 'sir' bullshit 'cause this isn't boot camp." "My Strike Force was dropping from the Hercules when we were attacked by a pair of Hotel Deltas. The rest of my team must have dropped since my pod stalled because of a fucked up magnet. And, judging by the angle of my pod, they must have been lifting up when I dropped." "Well, looks like you're with us. Try and get ahold of your strike force and let them know. Use the Kilo Kilo's built-in chatter system," said James. "Alright, then," Smoke sighed. Once everyone had retired back to the Kodkod's troop bay save for the vehicle's driver, Ellie-295. They drove another three hundred yards before arriving at a pair of turrets and a detachment of thirty Sangheili infantry. A tall Sangheili in maroon armor, which signified his rank as being Chief Major, approached the human vehicle. With the press of a button, a hatched opened and revealed the cockpit of the Kodkod with the female SPARTAN of the group in it. In a raspy voice, the Sangheili politely demanded, "You arrived at Station-019280. Verification, if it you will." It was obvious that the Sangheili's English grammar was not well, yet he was clean of all but a minor accent. A glance at him showed his disliking for Humans. A prepared Ellie reached down and retrieved a metal card, which the Sangheili reluctantly scanned. "That it will do." James produced a large grin due to the Sangheili's speach was revealed by his partially absent visor. Smoke followed with a small bit of laughter. The one-vehicle convoy progressed through the near deserted cityscape. Windows absent due to bombing raids revealed shattered families lucky enough to avoid Covenant slavers. Many of the younger Sangheili looked at the vehicle in confusion having seemingly never seen humans before. This Kodkod, which was generally versatile as was any other of the class, was fitted with a manned gauss cannon. The gunner, who was currently Smoke, stood so that only his upper half of his body was outside of the vehicle's troop bay. James, Travis, and Marcus-301 walked adjacent to the vehicle to increase visual capabilities. James looked to his left just in time to notice an extremely surprising sight: an NH40B Carbine. Not wanting the locals to catch on to his object of interest, he signaled for Travis to enter the vehicle's hatch with him. He then said, "Travis, there's a fucking NH40 over there. This place doesn't seem right at all." "Alright, I'll pull up records to see if any other Strike Force's been through here." Using the data pad hung on the ceiling, Travis searched for the area's history for the day. "Jay, you're gonna wanna look at this yourself." James then examined the small screen and the message on it. /''' '''/ /STRIKE FORCE SIX /LAST LOCATION: 192.43\251.04 /CURRENT STATUS: PENDING CONFIRMATION, MIA / "Fuck, we got ourselves some monkey-lovers," James said. "Private, open fire when I fire. Avoid families unless fired upon." "Got it." James proceeded to activate his squad radio, "Careful, everybody. These are hostiles, watch yourself. I repeat, these are hostiles. Wait for the flare to begin fire." The General exited the transport and stepped into an alley as he prepared his NH30D rifle. He then reached into a pouch on his belt and retrieved a signal flare and a smoke grenade. He took a breath and activated the flare and tossed it into the main road. After a moment of sheer silence, Smoke began firing at the unmanned ghosts less than seventy yards away at the checkpoint station. Noticing the perfect chance to score a kill, James dropped his assault rifle and armed his Reaper. He tossed the smoke grenade so that he was in a temporary shroud of cover while he lined up his reticle with a young Sangheili Minor, who looked to be no more than a rookie. He stood behind a waist-high wall and figured to be too far away to be in any danger, an assumption rarely made by any Sangheili, and a wrong one at that. James held his breath and pulled the trigger. With a relatively quiet recoil, the gauss rifle accelerated the five-millimeter round at the young foe whom it hit with perfect precision, causing the soldier to literally explode from the hydrostatic shock which resulted in a large portion of his head colliding with another Sangheili's head. He proceeded to panic and was mortally wounded by Travis, who was charging the Sangheili location. James looked to the other direction only to notice another twenty hostiles taking cover. He reached for a pouch on his chestplate and pulled out a round grenade made of thin metal. He pulled the pin and lobbed it towards the newfound enemies. After a second, a Major appeared with the grenade in hand. He attempted to throw it back only for it to detonate less than a yard in front of his face, engulfing him and his three comrades in a golden inferno. Another Sangheili fired at James before he could notice the foe's position with a carbine, hitting him in the left thigh twice and causing him to yell in his discomfort. "General! Find some cover!" Private Smoke called out over the volume of the ongoing firefight. "Don't worry, maintain fire!" James yelled, struggling to conceal his obvious agony. After firing ten rounds from his NH30D, James sat himself against the building, stretched out his leg, held his breath, and tugged on the first carbine spike, pulling it but to no relief. Almost shedding a tear, he quicly repeated the process with the second round, this time grunting in pain. He picked up his M77 once he stablizized himself then lay prone as he lined up his sight with the chest of yet another Sangheili. Unlike the last target, this one was an overly cocky Ultra. Damn Elites, they never learn, James thought. He line up his crosshair with the chest of the hostile, held his breath, but as he fire his leg wound began to sting, causing his shot to hit the Sangheili's toe due to his flinching. Nevertheless, the enemy was disabled as much of his left calf and a portion of his right had been obliterated. He quicly grabbed his NH40D to finish him off since the gauss rifle took fourteen seconds to cool and recharge. He fired a three round burst, one of which hit the downed alien's groin and momentarily finished the Ultra. He emptied the rest of his clip on another group of Sangheili, but only two hit a Minor in the right shoulder and forearm, impairing him (the Sangheili insurgents did not use shielding due to a small budget). "General, the sky!" Travis called out. James looked up in time to notic a pair of dropships, they entered a courtyard just off the main road and delivered fifty-odd soldiers along with a Striker tank. Travis retrieved the RPG he previously tossed on the ground and fired at the second dropship, scoring a direct hit on the cockpit. The aircraft spun laterally before smashing into a twelve-story building, toppling the large majority of it. "That's how you do it!" he boasted. A lightly happier James grabbed another incendiary grenade and pulled the pin, but this time held it for a second before launching it at the charging Jiralhanae that were fresh on the battlefield. It detonated just in front of the pack of six, splattering an adhesive fire onto their armor and hide. However, one managed to toss a spike-grenade in the direction of the Kodkod, which was now half in another alley. It landed on the vehicle's front left tire and Smoke ducked into the armored troop bay. The following explosion flipped the armored fighting vehicle upside down. Ellie and Smoke climbed out te hatch but Ellies shields were downed along with a spike impaling her right bicep. The pair ran behind the 'Kod and began firing with their weapons. "Checkpoint lance clear, General!" Marcus reported. James glancec to the town entrance, confirming the statement as Travis and Marcus had been concentrating their fire for much of this time on them. "How are we gonna take that tank down, though?" "I got it, Smoke, get over here!" A surprised Smoke followed, sprinting in the midst of his tossed smoke grenade to James' alleyway. "What's your plan?" the Private inquired. "You still have grenades, son?" "Three and a sticky, sir." "Good," with that, James grabbed his only fragmentation grenade and tossed it twenty yards or so down the alleyway, the two ODST's shielded themselves from the shrapnel before entering the building through the hole. They weaved their way through a succession of buildings before entering the third floor of a building less than fifty yards away from the position of the remaining forty enemies and tank complement. James motioned for two of Smoke's frag grenades and the adhesive grenade. He pulled the three corresponding pins and threw the sticky grenade at the Striker tank before lobbing the other two in a crowd of ten Jiralhanae. The two ODST's began to step back but still saw the outcome. The sticky grenade blew a one meter-wide hole in the cockpit and killing the pilot while the others killed half a dozen Jiralhanae. Travis and Marcus saw the opportunity to make an assault. They ran up the left side of the road, careful to avoid fire. Travis fired a dozen shots, killing a Jiralhanae. Marcus rolled right, but as he began his sprint once again was shot in the knee with a beam rifle. He let a scream out before taking cover and retrieved a small tube of Biofoam and filling the wound with it, which increased the burning sensation. He rolled onto his stomach and began firing while Travis attacked. Using his extreme athletics, he quickly armed his wrist-blade launched himself at a Sangheili, impaling its eye and spurting violet blood on the SPARTAN's visor. As he ripped the blade back out, he tumbled forward and uppercut a Jiralhanae at the groin with the blade, rendering him incapacitated. He turned to his left and slit the stomach of another Sangheili. He then attempted another strike on a Jiralhanae Captain but his blade was severed by the energy sword of an adjacent Sangheili. After dodging a number of swings, he ducked and took the Sangheili's plasma rifle before shooting the hostile down. James followed, using a set of stairs to get down to the second floor before hoping out a hole in the wall. He lunged behind a vehicle and blind fired a few rounds before rolling out from the cover and firing twelve more rounds at a pair of Sangheili, killing one. The remaining humans charged and killed the rest of the Covenant force, though a spike poked into Smoke's foot though was held in place by the stiff armor boot. "So that's what its like with SPARTAN's? We have five soldiers, they have fifty, and we win?" Smoke said, gasping in his pain. "Yeah, normally," James replied. "Now everybody patch up, I'll get another vehicle soon. Once again, what was left of the strike force was on the move. The plains seemed to disappear, however, for abandoned roads, buildings, and patches of trees were all around. The area seemed to have been abandoned decades before, even by the military. On the roadway they trotted on, which was made out of a synthetic concrete-metal hybrid, boasted a rail in its center, likely for a train of sorts. James noticed a small convoy of abandoned military vehicles, including an old Wraith tank covered in vines among four Ghost scouts. To the east of the convoy (they were traveling due north) was an abandoned war factory, likely lost with the remainder of the area in the midst of the empire's economical depression. Without speaking a single word, James signaled to head over to the old convoy. As they began towards the vehicles, Smoke took a step onto a crack in the street, but a rumble startled him. The crack then grew and sucked the street into a cavern below. He caught himself on the edge of the hole, which was almost one hundred fifty feet deep, and managed to pull himself up. The others ran over and James said, "This isn't normal. Elites have sewers and maintenance tunnels deep underground just in case of glassing. This is probably damn man made, too." From his chest, he grabbed two glow sticks. He cracked them both at once and tossed them down, revealing that the cavern was circular in shape and bore artificial walls. "The scalies went and built this, and probably since the Covenant took the planet." "What now, General?" Smoke asked as he stood at the edge where a support column lie directly below. "Looks like we're goin' in," James gruffed. "I got some rope in my pack, but its not enough." "I have plenty, but we'll need to tie it together," Smoke assured. The troopers reached into packs in near-unison, retrieved their ropes, and Smoke proceeded to tie them together. The thin, stretchy cord was definitely strong enough for sliding and rappelling alike. "Looks like I'll take point." Smoke took one end of the rope and tied it tightly around a nearby post. He walked to the edge of the dank cavern, tossing down the coiled rope. It reached down though fell twenty feet short of the ground. James took to the edge and admired their quick action. Looks like we'll get to freefall a bit, the General half-joked to himself. Smoke clipped a short tether linking him to the heavy duty rope and slowly slid down using his gloved left hand as a constant break and his right hand to hold his rifle and point its flashlight into the darkness. Below, he found a massive cavern just meters below the town above. Old buildings, likely hundreds, if not more than a thousand years old stood in a decayed state; the remnants of a recent outpost were also located in the buildings, a sign that the Sangheili loyalist forces had recently been here, though not anymore. He reached the end of the rope before yelling up, "hey, it looks like about a twenty foot drop, so we'll be fine." James threw his rifle's sling around his shoulder and let go of the rope, landing on a small, flat parcel of dark red dirt. He pressed a button on the right side of his helmet and activated his VISR system, gaining a better view of the area. "Come on down! I'll check corners," the General called out. Slowly, the rest of the squad rappelled down the rope until all of them had reached the bottom. Category: Halo: Infinity Category:SGW Trilogy